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Lab Members
Jaap de Roode
Professor of Biology
Jaap received his MSc in Population Biology from Wageningen University in the Netherlands and his PhD in Evolutionary Biology from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. He is interested in the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases, and currently studies infectious diseases of monarch butterflies, honey bees and humans.
Erik Edwards
Greenhouse manager
Erik obtained a Bachelor of Agricultural Sciences at the University of Georgia and has worked as grower at several commercial greenhouses. Since November 2017, he has been in charge of the Biology Department’s greenhouse, facilitating monarch butterfly work in the de Roode and Gerardo labs.
Zoe Zimmerman
Lab manager
Zoe received her BS in Biology from Emory University. She is the Research Specialist for the de Roode and Gerardo labs. Her interests include the role of species interactions in evolution and disease resistance.
Nadya Muchoney
NSF Postdoctoral Fellow
Nadya obtained her PhD from the University of Nevada, Reno, where she studied the role of host plant chemistry in anti-viral immunity in butterfly hosts. She is currently investigating how milkweed chemicals shape monarch midgut microbiomes, and how midgut microbes contribute to resistance against a protozoan parasite.
Ehsan Sanaei
Postdoctoral Researcher
Ehsan obtained his PhD from the University of Queensland, and carried out postdoctoral research at Griffith University. His main interests involve insect-microbe interactions. Having studied Wolbachia endosymbionts in scale insects, he is now using monarch butterflies to study the role of gut microbes in driving resistance to parasite infection.
Mitchell Kendzel
PBEE Graduate Student
Mitchell obtained his MSc in Biology from the University of Cincinnati and is currently a PhD student in Emory’s PBEE program. His work has focused on movement ecology and sensory biology. His current research interests are using the monarch butterfly as a model to study how parasitism interferes with animal migration and the influence this has on the development of sedentary populations.
Mackenzie Hoogshagen
PBEE Graduate Student
Mackenzie obtained her BSc in Biology from the University of Central Arkansas and is currently a PhD student in Emory’s PBEE program. Her work focuses on chemical ecology and budget energy modeling. She is interested in understanding how climate change may alter host-parasite interactions, and uses monarch butterflies, their milkweed plants and their protozoan parasites as a model system.
Gabe DuBose
PBEE Graduate Student
Gabe obtained his MS in bioinformatics at Georgia Tech and is currently a PhD student in the Population Biology, Ecology, and Evolution program at Emory. Gabe’s work focuses on understanding how ecological and environmental factors influence organismal development. He uses the interaction between monarch butterflies, their protozoan parasite, and the milkweeds they feed on as a model system to study how an organism’s ecology influences its development at the molecular level.
Lydia Fuller-Hall
Research Specialist
Lydia graduated from Emory University with a biology and English double major. Lydia is interested in the role of microbes in driving disease resistance. Lydia is using antibiotics to disrupt microbial gut communities of monarch butterflies to study the role of gut microbes in conferring resistance to a protozoan parasite infection.
Alison Pagalilauan
PBEE Rotation Student
Alison joined the PBEE program in August 2024, and is currently exploring the role of monarch larva gut microbes in providing resistance to parasite infection.
Tristan Olpin
Undergraduate Student
Tristan is a biology major who is interested in how climate change affects the tri-trophic interaction between monarchs, milkweeds, and parasites.
Sara Gotkin
Undergraduate Student
Sara is a biology major who is interested in the role of milkweed plant chemicals in driving monarch-parasite interactions.
Collaborators
Lab Alumni
Postdocs
PhD Students
Eleanore Sternberg
Thesis title: “Studies of local adaptation and ecological determinants of infection in a monarch butterfly parasite interaction”
Amanda Pierce
Thesis title: “Determining the effects of animal migration and range expansion on population genetics”
Travis Dynes
Thesis title: “Genetics and human management in Varroa destructor parasitism”
Erica Harris
Thesis title: “The role of medicinal food plants in mediating the gut microbiome and disease resistance in monarch butterflies”
Zachary Lynch
Thesis title: “Effects of parasites on host adaptation: immune system trade-offs, alternative behavioral defenses, and outcrossing rates”
Mary Bushman
Thesis title: “Within-host competition and evolution of drug resistance in Plasmodium falciparum”
Wen-Hao Tan
Thesis title: “Ecological immunology in a tri-trophic context: plant-mediated defense and immune gene evolution in monarch butterflies”
Signe White
Thesis title: “The evolution of virulence in heterogeneous host populations”
MS Students
Dylan Grippi
Thesis title: “Within-host ecology: parasitism over a changing landscape”
Gayatri Sekar
Thesis title: “Assessing competition between drug resistant and drug sensitive parasites in natural populations of Plasmodium falciparum”
Andrew Mongue
Thesis title: “Dynamics of multiple matings in monarch butterflies”
Ivan Shoemaker
Thesis title: “Risk-based plasticity of self-medication behavior in Drosophila melanogaster”